Space Chase Science Fair 2b
Observatory - Chase Technologies Stepping out onto the circular baseball stadium sized observation level is like stepping out into the tremendously beautiful nebula itself. The entire top floor of the station is encased in a massive two-way transparisteel dome, and the wondrous and vibrant colourful swirls and streams that make up the Rainbow Climbs are all around you. Reds, yellows, greens, blues, purples, and other hues outside of the visible light spectrum flow together, creating an exotic cosmic dance of colours. Distant flashing behind the clouds resemble faint and silent lightning. This is the next best thing to being out in space, and the view can be as dizzying as it is awesome. It's akin being inside of a snow globe. Luckily, one can avoid the brush with vertigo by focusing on the display booths and science exhibits that are spread around the circular deck. There are all manner of alien life and exhibits being shown. Observation telescopes are arrayed on the outer ring of the level for those wishing to gaze out, and elevators can take visitors to and from the lower level habitat and docking rings. Security is present, but they do a good job of remaining invisible and non-intrusive. Visitors are required to check or otherwise deactivate their weapons. Contents: Exhibit - Mindwipe's Runamuck Sunder Exhibit - Excise's Red Alert Jazz Isolde Meissner Dee-Kal Jayson Redfield Talazia Keldahoff Presentation Transcript -- Isolde Meissner Exhibit - Pile-Up's Vorath Sam Exhibit - Compton Xabat's Exhibit - First Aid's The second day of the second Space Chase Science Fair is just as busy as the first. Some of the one-day exhibits have moved on, replaced with new and (hopefully) equally exciting ones. Not everyone has the time or dedication to stay for the three full days of the fair. Scientists (and people who call themselves scientists) are busy people, after all! Chip Chase and his assistant Rachel are making their way through the observation deck, checking out all the exhibits. Currently the pair are at the Terraforming Bacteria exhibit. Chip is reading some of the documentation, though the technical aspects are beyond him. Exhibit - Excise's This booth has a large piece of cardboard being used as its poster. Etched in it using a broadsword are a bunch of old Cybertronian lettering, which reads 'Excise's Bad Luck Cannon, As Ordered By Fleet'. There doesn't seem to be any actual material other than this poster, though. Perhaps it still needs to be brought out? Red Alert still doesn't have an exhibit, because he's still completely certain that if he did, someone would use the information he put out in it against him. So again, he's once more wandering the exhibit hall, trying to determine what ways the exhibits that /are/ out might be used against him instead. After nearly three full days, Isolde still keeps a wary eye out for Xabat and his cronies. The young woman appears quite eager to explain different aspects of her project to Chip. There's a LOT of potential for collaboration, and she doesn't want to squander the opportunity. She hasn't quite thought through yet whether or not her university WOULD let her do it, but it never hurt to network. Talazia Keldahoff is comes down into the hall and looks around....and tilts her head as a sweep brings in an exhibit. "Wonder what the heck that is. different colors of energon?" Jazz is probably one of the few mechs that could follow Red Alert around and get away with it. Which he is currently doing. Sneakily. With a big white sign that has, printed rather professionally, in block letters: "Case Study: Extreme Paranoia." There is also a downward arrow, which, if looked on from straight ahead, points at the aforementioned Red Alert. A Sweep is standing by an exhibit marked "The Science of the Hunt"--Revenant. Nobody can tell which Sweep it is, although his ruby optics sparkle with intelligence. Various diagrams and models are on the table, including directions on how to quickly dispatch various types of prey. He smirks at the attendees, as if dispatching them with his eyes. Excise is leaning against his booth in a casual, cool tone. The Decepticon triplechanger watches as the huge mass of aliens, robots, and fleshlings wander past. Most of them ignore his exhibit as there doesn't seem to be anything there. Excise's cool factor is pretty high, however, as he appear to be smoking an ener-cigar. Unless ener-cigars don't exist, in which case he isn't. Anyone who looks his way gets the evil optic and a sneer in order to demonstrate his superiority over them. Talazia Keldahoff is still looking around the science fair....however, she DOES spot Red Alert. "Despite how far away she is.....she she says 'Hey Red Alert. Doing ok?" in a normal voice instead of yelling it....... Vorath is out wandering the exhibits, because his 'project' with Mindwipe honestly embarrasses and ashamed him. He takes notes and often asks rather sharp questions of the presenters, focusing of the biological sciences. Mindwipe, meanwhile, hangs out near his, er, 'exhibit' in bat mode, sometimes asking if anyone wants his or her horoscope done. "Awesome, -awesome-," Runamuck says to the sweep with the coloured energon display, "so like, does da green stuff cause Autobots ta lose their special powers while the red stuff has unpredictable effects...ooh, ooh, do ya have JEWEL ENERGON?" Runamuck rolls past Talazia and Red Alert in favour of following the poor bat-winged sweep, driving straight through the science fair aisle in car mode. It does seem that Runamuck has brought an exhibit - indeed, there's a trailer attached to his rear end, plastered with large 'TOP SEKKRIT' stickers and warning signs. But for now, it looks like he's incognito and scoping out the competition. You can tell Runamuck is incognito, because he has a trenchcoat pinned to one of his doors, and a fedora sitting on top of his windshield. Exhibit - Mindwipe's Mindwipe's exhibit looks like a tent made out of crushed burgundy velvet with gold tassels. Inside, the tent smells strongly of lead-based incense, and there is a large, hollow crystal sphere with a flickering flame inside. The more astute may notice that the sphere is hooked up to a vaccum pump, and that the pressure inside the sphere is, according to a little gauge, equivalent of that of hard vacuum. Combustion should be patently impossible inside the crystal sphere, and yet the flame burns on. How? Vorath has set up a glossy little poster going into the theoretic behind the phenomenon, but the answer still seems to be: "I have no idea." 'It went ok Im off 2day will look @ other xibits some r good & some r dumb' Isolde texts to her parents. She blinks as Red Alert cruises past, and squints hazel eyes a bit over the rim of her glasses at Jazz. "None of you f---wads better mess up my exhibit while I'm gone," Excise suddenly calls out to the scientists passing by. He recently learned about human swear words and how to use this, and figured a space station full of aliens would be a good time to test them. After shoving his way through the crowd, the triplechanger strolls up to Mindwipe's exhibit. "What the frak is this?" he asks, pointing at the tent's entrance. "Are they going to tell me my fortune in there or something?" he asks anyone who happens to be nearby. Sunder quirks a brow at Runamuck. "That's my lunch, not an exhibit," he says, referring to the colored energon. He was trying something new! He facepalms and shakes his head. And wishes Revenant were here. Although Sunder is intelligent to make the presentation, and understands much of what's going on around him, he thought it was more fitting for Revenant to speak. But, his laconic wingsib was prone to periods of quiet contemplation, and this was one of those times. So therefore Revenant had called upon Sunder to fill in for him. Giant Bat perks up and waves a wing at Excise, and he agrees, almost charmingly, "If you would like. The stars are beautiful here in the Rainbow Climbs, and they have much to say. Perhaps even words about you, Excise. I can cast your horoscope, if you would like." Runamuck rocks on his suspension, tires squealing on the polished observatory floor. One of his headlamps unfolds from the slope of his hood, flicking on - then off - at Sunder. The fedora sitting on top of Runamuck's roof droops lower on his windshield, the brim catching against one of his raised windshield wipers. "Ohhhhhh," Runamuck says to Sunder, in a sage and knowledgable air. The Battlechaser eyes the energon cubes in Sunder's possession. "Eating da evidence t'keep the top-secret project out o'enemy hands, I see, I see." Runamuck nudges Sunder with his bumper. "Good work, mate, yer a credit ta the cause." A whoosh of a lift door, and the distictive sound of bass guitar in the key of a funk riff on a loop... A squeeky dolly cart with a big rectangular block draped in an old cargo tarp is pushed out onto the observatory. A pair of horns rising above and behind it bopping up and down to the cart-operators step. MC Junkdoc Monstereo esquire, order of Strangelove, first class, has gotten his rusty aft here finally. The Junkion wheels his draped block over to the reserved exhibit booth and sets it to rest. "We got to instal microwave ovens. Custom kitchen deliver-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay." Runamuck shifts into car mode. Red Alert doesn't appear to be noticing the white and black mechanoid following him around... but then, with the way he constantly looks from spot to spot in the room, or the way he sometimes suddenly stops and tilts his head as though listening to something, it's hard to be sure /where/ his attention is at any given time. He can't answer Talazia without shouting, but he does look towards her, smile, and wave briefly before moving on. There's another pause again as he passes Isolde's station. Again he pauses, gives her a brief smile, and a nod. Wait a minute! Talazia, and then Isolde? Is he cruising for human chicks?! Excise looks back at Mindwipe. he looks up at the glass-like ceiling of the observatory. The Rainbow Climbs are indeed beautiful. The tiny points of light are shaded multiple hues of green, red, purple and yellow. The colours can barely be detected to be moving in a stunning array of patterns. "Meh, I guess so," Excise says with a shrug. "Stars are just big balls of fire. Now if it was a bunch of /swords/ up there, then you could sign me up, baby! So, you were saying something about telling my future?" He leans on the booth with his arm. Compton Xabat is here yet again. Oh, dear, what's he up to now? And who's that purple-haired dude he's talking to? And what's that thing the purple-haired dude has under a tarp? Jazz follows Red Alert around, gleefully enjoying his sport. If anyone's posed anything directed at him, he apologizes, but the interwebs are crazy here. Anyhow, he prances along after Red, smiling broadly. Red /has/ to have figured out he's there by now, but that doesn't phase Jazz. He sees a plan through! Giant Bat 's booth is pretty sturdy, for a tent made out of crushed velvet. Mindwipe steeples his wings together and points out, "Actually, stars are also massive radio emitters, and via processing those radio emissions according to ancient arcane algorithms, the secrets of the cosmos can be revealed!" Batty? Very. Monstereo puts his shoulder to the block and shoves. The sound of small compact wheels, like those of a skateboard, are heard rolling dryly on the floor under the tarp covered block as it is set into the center of the given space. 5r The Junkion mock wipes sweat from his brow and then sets the dolly cart aside. He gives the tarp a yank and dust kicks up off it. With a quick snap of his arm the tarp iis half-rolled up and then droped over the dolly. He waits for the dust to settle with an impatient furrow of his optic ridges. What is revealed is an amazing, most stunningly high tech... plain... metal... block. Monstereo puts his shoulder to the block and shoves. The sound of small compact wheels, like those of a skateboard, are heard rolling dryly on the floor under the tarp covered block as it is set into the center of the given space. The Junkion mock wipes sweat from his brow and then sets the dolly cart aside. He gives the tarp a yank and dust kicks up off it. With a quick snap of his arm the tarp iis half-rolled up and then droped over the dolly. He waits for the dust to settle with an impatient furrow of his optic ridges. What is revealed is an amazing, most stunningly high tech... plain... metal... block. Sunder quirks an optic brow at the Junkion. "I would have expected a television set," he says, smirking. Monstereo points, in an almost quickdraw, hauntingly at the Sweep without looking at them. "You know nothing of my work, Big John." Red Alert frowns, turns, and suddenly darts towards another section of the hall. Once there he sniffs the air, shakes his head, and returns to his previous meanderings - now wandering more or less towards Mindwipe's exhibit, to make sure the Decepticons aren't up to... worse trouble than Decepticons usually are. As the tarp comes off Monstereo's magnum opus, Runamuck reverses in surprise. The white sports car screeches backwards, the fedora hat on his roof nearly falling off with the sudden motion. The trailer attached to Runamuck sways dangerously as well. Runamuck peeks around Sunder, using the sweep's big wings as cover. His headlights flip up as he stares. "Don't be fooled, Sunder," Runamuck hisses, "this is clearly DANGEROUS JUNKION TECHNOLOGY!" Isolde Meissner pauses at a few vendor exhibits, one including Micro Air Vehicles with low aspect ratio wings like pheasants and other game birds. She sashays a bit as she talks to the sales reps, and eventually walks away with a stress squeeze doll, a metallic pen, and a grin. She catches Red Alert's glance, and gives him a pleasant nod and a jaunty two-fingered salute his way. She too is wandering Mindwipe's way -- until she sees the antics of a white car. She hmmms, and pauses. "Kinda reminds me of the GINA," she murmurs to herself. She reaches out to tug on the oversized fedora, to see just how heavy that much felt is. Scrapper drops Exhibit - Scrapper's Reassembling Chamber. Compton Xabat tells the purple-haired fellow, "Good luck!" and wanders off. He glances at some of the new exhibits, here, frowning a bit at Monstereo's... metal block? Or is there more to it than that? Can't trust the Junkions, in any case. Then, he saunters over to Mindwipe's tent, looking it up and down. "--what?" Excise cranes his neck upwards again as Mindwipe says how great the stars are. "Really? Algorithms, huh? So if you knew what the stars came out to using math you'd be able to tell the future? Even /my/ future?" He sounds like he's getting really excited now. Decepticon victory has just entered reach! Jazz's exhibit goes darting off in all directions, leaving Jazz standing, rather akwardly, holding a sign reading "CASE STUDY: EXTREME PARANOIA" that now points incriminatingly at...himself. He quickly disposes of the sign, and gets to wandering around the exhibits, trying his best to ignore whatever calamity is about to befall them all compliments of the Junkions. Red Alert peers at Mindwipe's exhibit... and his optics widen. He reaches for the 'crystal' ball with the flames inside, and attempts to make a grab for it. Whether he manages to pick the thing up or not, he still points at the flicker of impossible flame, demanding, "How did you do this?! Where did you get this?!" Scrapper has been in the stadium all the time but, due to his position at a long line of other booths, may not have been noticed till now. On the metal table in front of him have been laid a series of phamphlets on the benefits of being a Constructicon lackey, a basket of Decepticon stickers, and a raffle box where you can enter to win a chance to order Long Haul around for a week. Sunder strokes his beard thoughtfully. "Perhaps not," he says, "But then Junkions have always been a puzzlement." He peers askance at Runamuck. "I doubt it," he purrs. Giant Bat looks down at Compton Xabat and inquires, a slight facetious tone to his voice, "Interested in your fortune? Or just come to gawk?" Then, he looks back up as Excise, claps his wings together, and assures, "Of course! Everything affects everything via gravitic interaction, and if you can back out the nature of the interaction, you can understand the fate of the /universe/ - or any single component." As for the crystal balls, Red Alert does manage to grab it. The tubing for the vaccuum pump is sturdy, though, so it won't yank up very afar. The crystal surface is smooth and cool to the touch. Mindwipe regards Red Alert mildly and asks, "May I see your hand first?" Meanwhile, over by Monstereo's display: "H-hey, waiwaiwaaaait," Runamuck yelps. One of Runamuck's windshield wipers flicks on, twisting up and down as the big fedora on his roof starts to slip. He jolts back and forth a little without actually going anywhere - engine putting power down with the handbrake in place. The white Pontiac Firebird finally comes to a standstill. Runamuck growls at Isolde Meissner. The cabin door on her side of the vehicle clicks open, half-heartedly swatting at her. "H-hey, what are yer doin'! Yer ruinin' me disguise! I'm here INCOGNITO damnit!" "Why would you want to see my hand?!" Red Alert demands of Mindwipe as he continues to glare at the fire inside the crystal ball, as though furious over its very existance. Compton Xabat sneers. "My fortune! Bah. Superstitious rubbish. But I suppose even robots have to have their mystical con artists, hm?" He hasn't walked away just yet, though. Monstereo brings back his pointy finger and it telecopes away, only to be replaced by a tuning fork. Yes, that's right, a tuning fork. He eyeballs the prongs carefully and then gently strikes it against the block of metal. An eerie tone resounds from the fork, but a pleasant tone resounds from the block. The Junkion tilts his head back and takes on the look of a druggie getting their fix, one of immense pleasure. His pipes in a third tone with his vocals and the three tones become harmonious, and soon fade. Monstereo nods to himself in satisfaction and the tuning fork is replaced by his finger. "Magnifico, maestro." He then steps behind the block, pulls out a hidden length of power cord, and hooks it into the outlet into the station's power supply. "I've got the power. The kid, the kid, the kid has gotta have it." Ooooh, impending doom or a dorky joke of a project? Who knows? We shall soon find out. Scrapper moves around his booth to shake his green first down toeard Runamuck over at Monsterereo's display. "What is the cause of this disturbance? Noise does not come into the engineering process until the device has been successfully completed!" Excise nods enthusiastically to Mindwipe, "Wow, that's amazing!" He remembers the choking incident he and Mindwipe had several weeks ago, so he knows all about Mindwipe's awesome mystical powers. The triplechanger suddenly looks down at the stomp-sized Compton Xabat as the mouthy little human makes his arrival. "Hey... hey, I know you!" Excise exclaims, snapping his fingers, "You're Compton Xabat! I'm like your biggest fan!" Jazz takes stock of the situation. In one corner, we have Monstereo, a giant box, a badly-disguised Runamuck, and off to the side, Scrapper. On the other side, we've got Mindwipe, Red Alert, Compton Xabat, and close by, a Sweep. The possibilities were endless...he hopes/assumes that Red Alert's taking notes in the one corner, and so moves closer to the Junkion. Live on the edge. Giant Bat mentally calls for Vorath to return to him, which the scientist does grudingly. His Nebulan returned to him, Mindwipe rises into his robot mode, mouth peeled back into an unpleasant grin. So the Xabat creature dismisses him. Mindwipe will see, someday. My, my, but this Autobot is very flaily, isn't here? Vorath reminds him of Jazz's sign, pointing at Red Alert earlier. He explains to Red Alert, voice lulling, "Because, you see, your optics say it all. You have seen this flame before. Known its burn, perhaps?" His optics flash wickedly. "So I would know how you know the flame, before I say more." He holds out his own hand, as if to take Red Alert's, if the Autobot will offer it. The giant bat turns into the Decepticon Mindwipe. Who would have thought that a giant robot bat was really a Transformer? The narrator was totally fooled for one. Talazia Keldahoff makes her way over to Monstereo and well......she decides to play a junkion. She looks up and goes 'whatsindaboxwhatsindaboxwhatsindaboxwhatindaboxhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh?' Compton Xabat frowns, squinting suspiciously up at Excise. "Are you, now? You know, the last time one of you robots tried to get friendly with me, I was nearly trapped inside a box. I've already filed a complaint over that little incident, so don't try anything. Once you see what I am going to do to the Junkions you'll understand why you should be wary of me, "friend."" He gives Mindwipe a skeptical glance. Hm. Well. What could be the harm in getting his fortune? Maybe he could see the "trick" behind it. "H-hey," Runamuck complains to Scrapper, "my noise isn't related to -his- noise!" His open door still swinging, the Battlecharger indicates Monstereo's big musical metal block. "I mean I'm not part no crazy secret Junkion sonic weapon! I'm just tryin' to preserve the integrity of me cunning disguise from some crazy human tryin' ta steal my hat!" Runamuck glares - as best a white sports car can glare - at Isolde. Who was tugging on his big car-sized...hat. The hat is pretty heavy, and Isolde seems to lose interest quickly. "Oh, you're just a Pontiac," she exhales out in disappointment. "I guess it doesn't matter if you are just a Pontiac with a hat." Some of the words exchanged between Xabat and the Decepticon reach her, and she hmmms. "Oh, a box?" she asks aloud of Compton. Scrapper clasps his hands to his head-a unknowingly displayed human gesture-at Runamuck's reply. "It's not whether you or that Junkion is making noise, it is that you -are- making noise. And if that's a cunning disguise then I'm one of the those toaster abominations!" Members of channel are: Boomslang, Catechism, Compton Xabat, Excise, Isolde Meissner, Jayson Redfield, Noah Wolfe, Sam, Talazia Keldahoff, Victory Leo (hidden) "Ha ha ha, that's great!" Excise replies to Compton Xabat, bouncing from one foot to another, barely able to contain his excitement. Excise doesn't look like a very good actor. "You really are my favorite fleshling ever. Always out there making up crazy stuff about robots, and beating up all those other fleshlings, and yelling, and screaming, and makin' all sorts of wacky plots. Hee hee, I just can't get enough of 'em!" He seems to have temporarily forgotten about the potential to have his future told to him by Mindwipe. He tries to shoo Isolde away from Compton so he'll get more attention. Red Alert glowers up at Mindwipe, his gaze moving bottom to top and top to bottom, taking in, in an instanst, every odd burn on the hands, every stray drip of solder, the strange smell of flux combined with incense... but he wants, he /needs/ an explanation. Reluctantly, he sets the globe down and holds out his hand. Jazz watches things out of the corner of his eye, and idly sends off some radio chatter. Jazz goes back to watching Monstereo. Dee-Kal's optics flicker and go dark, her systems shutting down. Monstereo turns away from the big blocky plain boring thing now plugged into the station and flips out a CB mic on a coiled cord from his wrist, catching it in his hand easily. He thumbs the button and holds it to his mouth as he sweeps his gaze from the Sweep, to the Muck to the rapper to the hoffer. and then out to the small assembly in general. His voice comes out tinny, but slightly amplified. "Gather round for an amazing and incredible display of mad science put to the use of good. Viewing of the show is FREE! Free! free!" He wiggles his optic brows. "Now, a bit of knowledge. It is very fortunate this prestigious event is taking place in this sector of the galaxy, otherwise you'd all be poop out of luck, kiddies. The Rainbow Climbs. Home to many mysteries, but none so heart-breaking as the disappearing rabbit trick. What rabbit, you may ask? Why, the Autobot vessel Vanderdecken..." He pauses to see what effect he's having in his obviously show stopping speech. Pontiac Firebird sways, his suspension creaking, as he tries to re-sit the big fedora properly on his roof and windshield. This is no easy feat, considering he does not have hands in vehicle mode. His disguise thus restored, Runamuck gives one last half-hearted grumble at Isolde...before he twists his nose round, steering wheel spinning. His grille points at Scrapper accusingly. "Shhhhhhh," Runamuck hisses, engine rumbling "'s not like I -wanna- make noise, mmkay? Look, mate, my disguise would be a -lot- better if I could be all secret-agent quiet like, mmkay?" The white Pontiac flips one headlight in a conspiratorial wink. Swoop is here and is clapping at Monstereo despite the fact he has no clue what's going on. "Yaaaaaaayy! Woooo! Aw right!" Talazia Keldahoff is listening to Monstereo. One, he came to a concert of hers....she has the right to listen to one of his crackpot inventions.....good, bad or just plain ugly. Mindwipe takes Red Alert's hand by the wrist and looks at it carefully, waving his other hand above it in a doubtless mystical manner. He mumbles to himself in what just might be ancient Cybertronian before looking up and attempting to stare Red Alert right in the optics. "Another dead man walking, but the circumstances are unclear. Very clear break in the life line, nonetheless." He gestures to a seam in the metal of Red Alert's hands, with a nick in it. "Recently, you have suffered some spiritual distress, perhaps-" The mystic is about to speculate more when his attention is grabbed by the Junkion. What in the deuce? Scrapper slowly shakes his head in answer to Runamuck as he turns to look over at Monstereo as the other begins his presentation. The pose that the Construticon adopts speaks the phrase "I could top that" vividly. Compton Xabat scratches the back of his head, and sighs. "Ms. Meissner. Yes, ah, one of the robots--a Junkion--attacked me during the first day of the fair, attempting to trap me under a box. But I manage to escape it through my superior *human* brain." He smiles. Excise distracts him--dammit, he's trying to get lucky--and he sighs up at Decepticon. "You... do realize I want to kill every Decepticon in the galaxy, don't you? That is one of my goals." Xabat gives Mindwipe another glance. "Hm. Well, in spite of that, perhaps there's some entertainment value to be had of you. Very well, creature, tell me my fortune." All this and he has to keep an eye on Monstereo, too! "Eh?" Boomslang mingles, moving unobtrusively through the crowds to look at the various inventions. Especially the useful ones. Especially the stealable ones. Exhibit - Scrapper's Reassembling Chamber A tall and upright metallic box attatched to which is a large and heavy steel door that sports a circular locking mechanims and a viewing window. Beside it stands a tall trifold chart which, despite it's apperance, is not made of cardboard. Across the surface of the non-cardboard are embedded holoprojectors that display a variety of looped images of Cybertronians often being manhelded into the device and exiting moments later with radically different forms. Scrapper is always giving the thumbs up at the end of the video. Thankfully the holograms don't have audio. The sound exuded by the Junkion intrigues the Sweep, as his enhanced senses can pick out the subtler tones and pitches that some life forms cannot perceive. "Verrrry iiiiiinteresting," he purrs. Perhaps Monstereo knows how to make the box make sounds that are so high, only Sweeps can hear them? Excise laughs at Compton's words, "Ha ha, that's awesome. Kill every Decepticon in the galaxy... hee hee! Seriously, you are your race's very best comedian, Comp- no, sorry, 'Mr. Xabat'. Everything you say is like sheer comedy gold! Oh, oh, oh, do the one where you talk about how Earth doesn't need those stinkin' Autobots." he claps preemptively. Jazz is now more focused on Red Alert than he is Monstereo, just in case. Trust your mechs with your life, but not with their own...it's a motto that's gotten him this far. He makes a quick mental note to stay far, far away from Excise if he feels like getting lucky tonight. Isolde Meissner tilts her head to the side, ponytail flipping about her shoulders. The calculating eye of a scientist in training is cast upon Excise as he waves his hands in her face. "What do you turn into?" she asks him. "There's too much there to just be a plane." Isolde frowns a bit as she listens to Xabat. "I must have gone back to the hotel by then," she admits. "Did you do something to deserve it? Well, something specific that day?" She takes a step back once Excise and Xabat start needling each other like an old married couple. "Me want to see explosions!" Swoop shouts from the peanut gallery. Red Alert takes his focus off of glaring at Mindwipe long enough to glance worriedly down at Isolde, then cast a quick frown at Compton and Excise. While he's listening to events on the other end of the room, his attention appears to be in this area. He frowns as Mindwipe, who still has his hand, is distracted by the Junkion. "The fire!" he reminds angrily. "Tell me about the fire!" Mindwipe nods pleasantly to Xabat and agrees, "Oh, of course you do." Primus knows that Mindwipe has had that very same urge, now and then! Living with Misfire and Triggerhappy will do that to anyone. "You are human, ah?" Without waiting for an answer, he continues with either uncanny mystical knowledge or a google search via robot wifi. "Yes, a human. Spanish. Perhaps the Western zodiac, then. I believe that would suit." Oh, Mindwipe grabbed Red Alert by the wrist and was talking to him too, right? "You have seen heaven and hell, have you not?" Perhaps he means the Dead Universe and the Matrix. Perhaps he is just using flowery speech. Hard to say. "Now you seek the secrets of the immortal flame? How far will you go for knowledge? Will you let the raven droids pluck out an optic? Will you cast a hand down the well?" "WHERE ARE THE EXPLOSIONS?" Swoop bellows. Excise looks over at Isolde, annoyed that she is interrupting his talk with one of his idols. He starts to reach for his katana, but then remembers he had to turn that in. He starts to reach for his switchblade instead, but then remembers he had to turn that in also. He starts to reach for an axe, but then remembe- this goes on for about ten long seconds, which to an outsider appears like Excise is twitching. Finally breaking free of the logic trap, he snorts at Isolde, "What do I look like, an Alt-mode-ologist?" Monstereo hrms as he quirks his mouth to one side, peering with scrutiny at mixed reactions. He shrugs one shoulder and carries on. "Well then, a little further back then. The Vanderdecken. She was a goodship. And charged with the transport of the most mysterious and dangerous Apocalypse Box. But that's another story... Yes, the Vanderdecken was cursed by an enemy of you and I. And for a long long long long time now she's been set missing for 100 years at a time, only allowed a brief recess to what we think of as 'normal' space. Where she goes? Breaking on through to the other side. Through the looking glass. Else-mush." He makes a grinning look to a floating camera. "When last we... ah screw it. On with the show. I'm gonna reach into that dimensional prison with my modified dimensional frequency technology, and rescue the Vanderdecken once and for all, so save your questions for after." He reels in his CB mic away and then takes out a handheld remote device. "Igor, throw the s'vitch!" A thumb presses a big red button on the remote and the block starts to hum... and vibrate... and glow with an aura like the Aurora Borealis all about it, rippling in a dazzling visual effect. The Junkion is smiling as he drops his goggles over his optics, the technicolor reflecting off his dull metal features. He presses a second button, and then another five after that. The block lets out a gental flash of light, or rather, seems to attract one from the entire observatory around it... There is a groan and the station vibrates for a moment... and the stars outside the glass seem to double, tripple, and then half of them seems to vanish, then reappear seconds later while the other half vanish... and reappear...and randomly stars outside fade and reappear with no discernable pattern... The Junkion frowns slightly. "Er... wait... what?" He looks all around. There is another groan in the station... and then it quiets. "Oh... fffffudge...." "Yaaaaaaay! Yaaaaaaaaay! Yaaaaay! That was amazing! Wooohooo!" Swoop gives Monstereo a standing ovation. Compton Xabat glares at Excise. "How about I tell you the one about the robot I tortured to death?" He grins, slowly, evilly. It's the grin of a twisted, sadistic, maniac. "Oh, did you hear that one? Did you hear about the robot whose skin I peeled off, plate by plate? How I took his naked, unarmored body, and microwaved it? It was kind of funny, listening to it. Aside from the screams, there will all those pops and crackles as electricity arced through him. Zap. Crack. Oh, and he was sputtering, "Ooh, please stop, please don't kill me!" But of course, I didn't. Heheheh! But I don't know why I'm telling you this, you'll see what I'm talking about soon enough." Isolde asks him a question, and Xabat, as if coming out of a dream, replies, "Ehm, what? Oh, no, I didn't do anything to provoke them." And to Mindwipe, he frowns, "I'm fairly famous, that information isn't hard to find." Compton Xabat finally notices the bizarre anomolies all around him. "What--what is going on? Is this some sort of new FTL drive being tested?" Chip Chase has since gotten around to the various exhibits, but as the time for presentations is drawing near, the inventor and his assistant head towards the stage in the centre of the observation ring. "What do you think, Chip," Rachel asks, "More silliness this time around or less silliness?" Chip hmmms and takes the question seriously. He looks around at the visitors, trying to pick out the ones he knows are on the list. "I'm not confident about my answer, but I'm going to go with 'more'." The pair reach the small podium, and Chip takes the microphone, "Hello all," he says, his voice amplified by the observatory's sound system. The hundreds of conversations slowly start to quiet down and end. You don't realize how loud it is until the noise finally finishes. "I'm glad to see so many new faces out this time around-" Suddenly the station groans and the stars switch around. A ripple of worry passes through the crowd Rachel is on her cell phone immediately, and after a few moments whispers something to Chip Chase. The man nods and says, "Monstereo, if you could wait for your turn to present...? Then you can tell us all about your star reconfiguration technology." Or whatever it turns out to be. Jazz stares, slack-jawwed, at Monstereo's device. This is...not expected. Nor good, he imagines. Calmly, yet with a certain amount of speed, he tries to make his way over towards the Junkion, calling out, as he goes; "Yo! Monstermash... need.. a hand?" Mindwipe continues to Xabat, unperturbed by Compton Xabat's tallk of torturing robots to death - Mindwipe was exiled to Scorponok's crew for a reason, after all - "You are a haunted and hunted man, Mr. Xabat." Mindwipe pauses and glances around, noting dryly. "Though not so haunted as this space station appears to be, at the moment. But even as you hunt my kind, one of your own kind wishes to murder you. You have a dark future ahead of you, Mr. Xabat. Beware of windfalls in the weeks to come." Excise looks back at Compton. "Yes please!" he exclaims at Compton's offer. He sets down in front of the terrorist, cross legged. He has a silly grin on his face, "Ha ha ha, unarmoured and then microwaved? That's hilarious! Oh, oh, did you use any knives? Huh? Didja?" Suddenly the station groans and Excise frowns. He looks around, noticing that the stars are all screwed up. "Hey Mindwipe!" he calls out over his shoulder, "What's /this/ say about the future, huh?" Monstereo frets his fingers. Oh dear. "Uh... hehehe.... you betcha, Mr Chase...No worries." He worriedly looks back at his device. "Hi... Jazz... um... nono... Everything is fine." Runamuck honks his horn as the stars outside the observatory station go crazy, adding to the confused din. However, unlike many in the confused crowd, he has been -paying attention- to Monstereo. As Chip Chase mounts the podium and brings the convention to order, Runamuck sidles up to Monstereo, nosing through the crowd, pushing aside a few stray humans with his bumper. "Pssst," the fedora-clad car hisses. Runamuck nudges Monstereo. He sees Jazz also trying to get Monstereo's attention, which prompts Runamuck to nudge him more urgently. There's no way the Autobots will get this critical information before him! "Soooo," Runamuck says, "you, like, the stars outside went crazy like...and then yer mentioned fudge...yer can tell me the truth...this is an FTL-CAPABLE /OVEN/ isn't it?!" "I've already done /both/," Red Alert snaps at Mindwipe, and now tries to snatch his hand away from the batformer. So much for getting questions answered. His optics widen and flare brightly as Monstereo's device starts to do... whatever it's doing, muttering, "Oh, no, not again!" Isolde Meissner's shoulders rise and fall in a small shrug to the agitated Decepticon. "Well, you get the most out of your life when you know yourself, s'all I'm saying." She makes a face as Xabat details his torture methods in extreme details, which contorts further as the air around her warps and glitters. She looks skittish, before rather quickly stuffing her freebies into her pouch. Clutching her midriff in nausea, she darts for the atrium. Exhibit - Scrapper's Reassembling Chamber @desc #8796= A tall and upright metallic box attatched to which is a large and heavy steel door that sports a circular locking mechanims and a viewing window. Beside it stands a tall trifold chart which, despite it's apperance, is not made of cardboard. Across the surface of the non-cardboard are embedded holoprojectors that display a variety of looped images of Cybertronians often being manhelded into the device and exiting moments later with radically different forms. Scrapper is always giving the thumbs up at the end of the video. Thankfully the holograms don't have audio. Chip Chase coughs politely and shakes his head. Monstereo better have this fixed by the time the evening is over, or else he's going to get such a talkin' to! "Don't worry, folks. Monstereo has this all under control. At least he /better/ have all of this under control. Up first for our presentation is Scrapper from the Decepticons, who's going to be showing us a Reassembling Chamber." Eyes are diverted towards the Constructicon. Talazia Keldahoff punches Monstereo in the leg. "ok...what'd ya do that for?" She says before trying even harder to get his attention. Mindwipe shrugs and considers what Monstereo's device appears to be doing, and he answers Excise flatly, "The junk-man wishes to rescue the cursed, I think. He may suffer alike with them, but perhaps he will succeed. Perhaps." He steeples his fingers. Looks back to Red Alert, he smiles innocently and replies, "I will be doing a talk later, at Vorath's behest, but the short answer is that I studied the psychic residue on an artifact that exhibited the flame at an earlier point in time." Swoop cups his hands around his mouth and boos loudly. He's a team player. "Booo! Him Construc-tee-con's sciency thing sucks! Boooo! Booo! Hisssss! Booo!" Compton Xabat watches Isolde leave, hmming. Woops. Well, on the bright side, he can always head to Amsterdam. The women there can take care of him. For a fee. Then, he resumes glaring at Excise. "Think this is funny do you? We'll see, my smug little friend. When I'm carving you up for parts, we'll see if you're still smiling." Mindwipe gets a skeptical look. "Hnnh. It's not much of a secret who my enemies are, either. But you say I have a dark future? Heh, if you're trying to scare me away from my goals, you've failed, robot." He folds his arms and turns his attention to Scrapper's exhibit. Jazz nods to Monstereo. "'aight, bud! Have it your way!" With that, Jazz saunters off, to some other portion of the exhibits, to look at...things. He'll be around, generally, tonight, but /ever so slightly just/ off-camera. You know how it goes. Object not found. Mindwipe shakes his head and insists, "Scare you? Oh, no. You would /know/ if was trying to scare you. Mr. Xabat. I simply tell you what the stars have decreed." Scrapper suddenly looks around him as he suddenly hears his name echoing across the chamber: he glances at Monstereo, nods once, and then spreads his arms in the internationally recognized single for "My stuff is cool." He ignores Swoop's outcry as he begins to speak his prewritten speech. "What you are witnessing here is one of the greatest engineering discoveries created in this sector of the galaxy! This device can take metallic compounds and rewrite them into a form of my choosing. If I can have a volunteer from the audience...like you!" He points at a hapless Gumby seeker standing in the audience who is suddenly grabbed and manhandled into the box with a lot of struggling and attempted kicks. The door is shut, the lock spun and sealed, and suddenly a bright light fills the room. Once the light fades Scrapper turns and opens the door himself to reveal that the gumby has been turned into a handsome metal chair. "And this is only one of the many possiblities!" Excise giggles at Compton, perhaps not realizing what's going on involving Monstereo until Mindwipe explains it for him. "That sounds super, Mr. Xabat. You keep on truckin', you hear? If the rest of your little species had the ball bearings that you do, why I dare say we Decepticons would have to go blow up a /different/ planet." Excise stands up again, looking over at Mindwipe, "Wait, the cursed? Did he steal my science exhibit?" he asks in a hushed tone, apparently mindful that Scrapper is giving his presentation. Jayson Redfield came here with Talazia, but had wandered off to explore a bit on his own. Eventually he emerges from the crowd and hurries over to her. "There you are, Tal!" Talazia Keldahoff grins and waves over towards Jayson. "I think something weird's gonna happen, Jayse." She says softly before nudging him and looking towards Scrapper. Sunder utters a soft growl as Monstereo's device seems to do more than meets the eye. Or meets the audio, as well. He shakes his head, almost as if he was in a trance and trying to clear himself of its effects. "Be careful," the Sweep says sinisterly, wiggling his talons at the Junkion. "You may unknowingly open the door to the Void. And bring back all my fallen brethren by doing so." "Would it work on Rodimus Prime?" calls Boomslang from the crowd up to Scrapper on the stage. Monstereo hears the clang of flesh and bone against metal and looks down. "Talazia Keldahoff, bless you." ~rimshot~ "I-er-uh. Look everyone is fine, we're all fine here. Relax, don't do it... just... um... Don't try to leave the station, m'kay? While the no-smoking sign is on, please remain seated with your seatbelts buckled. Enjoy the rest of the exhibits." Runamuck gasps, in Boomslang's wake, his yelp of surprise joining that of the crowd. Monstereo forgotten, he turns his attention to Scrapper and the newly-reformatted ChairSeeker in the machine. "FLATPACK PRIME," Runamuck chants, "FLATPACK PRIME FLATPACK PRIME FLATPACK PRIME." "This transformation seems to represent an decrease in enthalpy. Complex moving parts into a single inanimate object? Kinda lame." Isolde critiques from the rear of the seats facing the stage. She has returned, sipping on a blueberry icee in an attempt to settle her stomach after the Junkion's display gone awry. Jayson Redfield blinks and looks over at Scrapper and his exhibit. "Y'think? It's a *Constructicon*--something weird *always* happens when they're involved." Talazia Keldahoff shakes her head. "not him, Jayse." She then jerks a thumb to Monstereo. "him." Jayson Redfield looks to Monstereo now. "Yeah? What's happening, then?" Scrapper has taken his seat in the recently created throne as the two Decepticon gumbies(no relation to the chair) before turning to look at Boomslang. He fires up his vocal synthesizer before Runamuck sta rts to chant and he holds up his hands for silence as he stands up and and heaves a large metal box onto the table. He pulls out a series of assorted metallic limbs before turning and placing them one by one in the bottom of the chamber. He shuts the door and fires up the device as he moves slowly around to the side of the chamber and throws open the door once the light fades. Instantly a small group of minature insects which look disturbingly limb like begin to skitter toward the feet of the crowd. "And this is only one of the many possiblities!" Great. Red Alert deleted his security codes and let a Decepticon look at his hand for 'I studied it off of something else.' Talk about poor gain for the cost. As Excise complains about someone stealing his exhibit, he frowns at the triple-changer. "I've been by your station. You /have/ no exhibit!" Chip Chase rubs his chin as he watches Scrapper's demonstration, "What is it with you Decepticon scientists and experimenting on Seekers?" he asks, "I can't believe you guys have any of them left to go around..." he doesn't bother mentioning how sad it is that the Seekers are treated this way. "What exactly did your machine do?" Was the poor gumby crushed into that shape? Otherwise reconfigured? The second demonstration is much more interesting, as mechanical insects are created. There's clapping from the crowd. Red Alert is size 6. Compton Xabat crinkles his nose in disgust as a foot-insect creeps near. "Ugh, keep that thing away from me!" he snaps. Excise scowls back at Red Alert, "Well maybe that's because it was stolen, wise-bot. I'll have you know I /do/ have an exhibit, and my exhibit is going to /blow your stupid exhibit out of the water/." The Decepticon takes a step so he's right up in Red Alert's grill, glaring at him. Monstereo half-giggles nervously, "Lets just say... well...instead of berry picking, I seem to have... fallen us into the bush. I just have to rework the math and tool with the hardware while updating the software, and we can all get back to the justright-where." He gives the Redfield human a gental headpat and then takes a cross legged seat behind his monolith of a creation, disappearing into his work. Talazia Keldahoff laughs at Excise. "Sorry Excise....but Air has already been discovered." Scrapper picks up one of the phamphlets and holds it out to Chip as the human poses his question: unfortunately it's the size of an encylopedia. "It binds metallic substances with new compounds to create new beams. That Seeker volunteered...even if he wasn't aware of it. It can also convert damanged Cybetronians into brand new forms." "Do a flamenco! The tarantella!" Isolde sing-songs in Xabat's direction. She scootches up higher onto her barstool as a clicking centipede weaves past her seat. Red Alert doesn't have a grill. Or an exhibit. The second one, he admits out loud. "I don't /have/ an exhibit, Decepticon." He does start to move back, instinctively, then realizes he's backing down in the face of the enemy and stands his ground. Jayson Redfield is patted on the head. He doesn't really mind that. He glances around at all the exhibits, pondering to himself. "SooooooOOOooo," Runamuck muses, bouncing awkwardly from wheel to wheel, his suspension making loud noises. The trailer hitched to his rear rocks along with the movement. Whatever's within the box makes loud rattling noises. "Soooo," Runamuck asks Scrapper, "it like... transforms transformers?" Chip reaches out with both hands to take the 'pamphlets' from the Constructicon. He grunts audibly under their weight and puts them on his lap. He'll read them over later. "That's remarkable, Scrapper. Are there any drawbacks to the system?" Hopefully the Decepticons won't be able to fix their warriors super fast from here on out, as that could spell bad news for the Autobots. Mindwipe is going to explain in more detail later! Feh on Red Alert for being impatient. He is uncaring at Scrapper squishes a Seeker and crosses his arms. Okay, so Scrapper is making one mundane think into another. So what? It would be so much more interesting if he was trying to trap the souls of the Seekers in the objects, to create a sapient soulforged object in eternal torment. Sunder frowns at Monstereo and then turns back to his own Exhibit, moving a few items around. He chuckles at the machine that turns a Seeker into a 'seeker-chair.' "Infinitely more useful," he says with a smirk. Talazia Keldahoff peers at scrapper's machine. "dang. that's a first. a machine that can turn a seeker into something remotely useful." She then looks to Jayson. "I wonder if Ramjet's dumb enough to volunteer for something like that." Jayson Redfield just giggles. Scrapper golf claps in Runamuck's direction as he turns away from Chip as the human heaves the phamphlet. "Well grasped, Runamuck. You may be able to repaint your own bodywork soon." He then turns back to Chase as the human posses his question. "All the flaws in the process were carefully removed from the design before it was produced, and it can do much more. Observe." The chair is picked up and put back into the chamber and, once the bright lights have failed, the door is opened and the Seeker remerges but his laser weapons have been turned to large energon tanks. "It can recombine to alter the purpose of every soldier. Soldier, distribute the Energon samples!" The Seeker nods slowly, still looking dazed, and begins to move toward the crowd before turning to the table and pouring Energon into metal cups placed on a tray on the booth's table. Compton Xabat growls, "I don't know those moves, Miss Meissner, but I know this one--THE BOOT!" And so he proceeds the kick the little monster, over and over. "Very nice work, Scrapper," Chip says into the microphone, handing the rather heavy load of pamphlets off to another assistant. He doesn't want to have to cart those things around all day long, after all. "Our next presenter is a newcomer to the science fair. I believe this is the first major showing of his work. Everyone please welcome Mr. Henry Masterson." The spotlight falls on a young creepy looking man with purple hair. Henry Masterson, whom Xabat was talking to earlier, grins maniacally, leering at everyone. It's an ugly leer, thanks in no small part to the thick eyeliner he inexplicably wears. "GREETINGS n00bs! My name is HENRY MASTERSON, aka--" He pulls a tarp away from his own exhibit, revealing... a head!? "--THE HEADMASTER!" He grins smugly. "Hey, Autobots and Decepticons, ever get PWNED in a battle? Lose your head? That's ok--my new, unprecedented, never-before-seen, revolutionary HEADMASTER technology can get you a new one! All it needs is a human h4xx0r to pilot it, like me! But to demonstrate my AMAZING technology, I will need a volunteer! Come on guys, don't be l4me!" Monstereo sits up after hunching over an open panel in the back of the block where the chord came from and then points his remote device at it. ~blip blorp bleep snerk snerk dork~ The block hums at a deeper quieter tone. He looks around and up... There are fewer stars visible now. The Junkion pops a screwdriver in between his lips and muffles a curse. Mindwipe stares. Then, wordlessly, he removes his head and holds in the crook of his arm for a moment, before allowing Vorath to transform back into his humanoid form and land on the floor. Vorath notes, "Been there, done that, stole the technology from Arcana." Mindwipe turns into a bat. Is anyone shocked? Red Alert frowns at Scrapper's project, eyes narrowed. Masterson's, however, causes him to groan. "My XO's got one," he mutters. Talazia Keldahoff elbows Jayson. "is it me...or is everything except the autobot submissions coming from stolen technology from Nebula?" Jayson Redfield rubs his temples a bit. "What do you expect? The non-Autobot exhibits were produced by a bunch of maniacs." Scrapper looks at Red Alert with a straight face but, then again, he really doesn't have much of a choice. And then Xabat smashes the creature. Well, at least he hadn't sent any of his goons to intimidate her or ransack her room. Yet. "I... see," the twenty year old quirks in Xabat's direction. The twitterings between the EDC troopers earns a scowl from Isolde. She sips on her icee a few more times, glaring over the rim of her glasses, before dropping it into the nearest waste bin. She rolls eyes at Henry Masterson, and then begins to weave through some of the other exhibits, eventually trailing over to Sunder's table. Runamuck blinks his headlights as Mindwipe removes his head. His hood flips up a little, bouncing before it settles back down over his engine. HolySLAG that's like those weird Autobots. This whole head thing is like TOTALLY SPREADING. There's gotta be a logical explanation for this...gotta be a logical explanation... The white Battlecharger jolts as it hits him. His engine revs, he honks his horn. Raising his voice, Runamuck yells at Henry Masterson, the squishy with the HEADMASTER head: "YER A -BOOTLEG- -KNOCKOFF-," Runamuck accuses, "YER FROM CHINA AREN'TCHA! ADMIT IT!" Chip frowns as Henry begins talking and glances over at Rachel, who is currently out giving Henry the microphone for him to use. He holds up his index finger, indicating that this is the first silly scientist. Will there be more today than there were on Wednesday? Only time will tell! The inventor arches an eyebrow as the tarp finally comes off, revealing a robotic head. "Head...master...?" he asks, briefly shooting a glance towards Mindwipe, who is the only /actual/ Headmaster that he sees here so far. Chip looks around to see if anyone is going to volunteer. Sunder points out to a few morbidly fascinated people how a simple talon puncture in the right spot can dispatch a target within seconds. Henry Masterson gapes at Mindwipe for a moment. "WHAT? No way! Well, whatever! My idea is teh r0xx0rs!" He shakes a fist at Runamuck. "Screw you, l4mer! I thought of my idea first! I got the patent to PROVE it! Anyway, can I get any volunteers? Anyone?" A random Seeker steps forward, raising his hand. "Yeah, I'll volunteer. This'll make me a Headmaster, right? I hear that's the ultimate upgrade! I'll be as powerful as Scorponok!" "Who? Look, I dunno how DORKONOK is, but yeah... just step right over here, and I'll be right with you..." As the Seeker stands near the exhibit, Masterson hops inside his Headmaster suit, which then transforms into some sort of purple battlesuit. "And now, I have to remove the volunteer's head! Hold still, this won't hurt too much, LOL." The Headmaster suit activates thrusters on its boots, flying up at the Seeker. "Wait," the Seeker says. "Remove my head? I thought you were just going to--" ZZZZZOOOOWWWW! "--NYAAAAAGHHH!" He is cut short by a laser blast from Masterson's suit, which quickly decapitates him! Masterson's suit transforms into headmode, and settles into position on the Seeker's shoulders. "SEE?!" Masterson says, and makes the Seeker walk about the floor, though a bit stiffly. "I h4xx0red this Decepticon! All his body belongs to me! LOLOLOL!" Talazia Keldahoff says, "hey mister Masterson? Can we BAN leet speak here? I can FEEL the intelligence sliding lower." Compton Xabat grins, applauding loudly and enthusiastically. "Bravo! Now that's what *I* like to see! Humans telling machines what to do, as it should be!" Scrapper looks momentarily concerned, but only if you know him really well, as the Seeker approaches to fulfill his dream of power but then relaxes as the other's head it blown off. A faded grey Autobot sitting slumped in a chair floats through a back corner of the observatory away from the current exhibit presentation out of sight of the onlooking crowd. The corroded and decrepid looking spook glances up from making cats-cradle with some wires and then doubletakes before passing through a bulkhead silently. Jayson Redfield twitches a bit as he overhears Compton. 'Stay cool, stay cool...' He turns in the man's direction and calls, "Why don't you stop being racist against machines?!" Hey, some of his best friends are machines, you know. Vorath pinches the bridge of his nose, as he has a headache. Of course! Just... remove the Decepticon's neural net entirely! That would ensure total control of the body. He frowns as Masterson demonstrates stiff movement, however. Ah, yes. It would be stiff, lacking the robot's neural net to process the movement commands. Curses. Not a viable way of gaining total control of a robot while maintaining fluid functionality, then. Chip Chase covers his mouth with muted horror as Masterson tears off the head of the Seeker and replaces it with his own suit, taking control of the Decepticon. "Good God," he whispers. He hates to say it but he's going to have to take back his previous call that this was going to be a silly entry. This is a disgusting entry! "That's... uh... wait, did you just say 'L' 'O' 'L' at the end there?" Excise meanwhile claps and cheers, "Woo yeah, that was awesome! Ha ha, that guy got what was comin' to him!" Talazia Keldahoff blinks at that. "this is worse than a britney spears concert." she says with a groan. Pontiac Firebird revs his engine, the high-performance muscle car V8 beneath his bonnet roaring. Which is about as close as he can come to applause without transforming. The vibration causes the trailer hitched to his rear end to rattle dangerously. "LOL," Runamuck says, sagely, in approval. Combat: Boomslang activates his cloaking field and vanishes from sight! Boomslang, not far removed from a gumby himself, cloaks before anyone tries to steal his head or turn him into a chair. Red Alert is, at this point, mostly just concentrating on taking everything in. However, on noticing the gray Autobot, he perks up. He darts directly past the cloaking Boomslang and towards the wall that the Autobot just moved /through/, then touches it, trying to figure out how he did as much. Swoop claps his hands together, "My love her Britney Spears. Music good. Bugs other Dinobots so me Swoop approve." 'Now there's a guy w/ detached heads talkin $h!t & EDC guys think every1 ganked their science from Nebulos UGH' Isolde texts back to that sailboat in Monterey Bay. There's a vaguely petulant look on her face, but that fades as a hot pink claw points to what looks like a water buffalo on heroin. "So, what sort of force and leverage would be needed to get through..." Swoop speaks up, "Dinobot armor?" she asks curiously. Swoop thumps his chest with a fist, "Dinobot armor? Dinibots have best armor! Dinobots have best everything! Best music. Best tastes. Best..uh..eyes. Best colors. Best-" He goes on and on. Henry Masterson makes the seeker do The Robot for several moments, giggling to himself. "Haha, you know, I do it for the lulz, not the money!" Then, he makes the seeker pose, hands on his hips, and says in a squeeky voice. "I'm in ur planet, steeling ur energon! LOLOLOL! Oh, boy, I could do this all day. Uh. But, right, I can't." The Headmaster unit pops off of the seeker, and the poor guy's body flops to the ground with a crash. It then transforms into its battle mode, and Masterson waves his arm at the crowd. "So, uh, any questions, or was it too l33t for you n00bs?" First, he answer's Chip's question. "Huh?" Seriously. Doesn't everyone talk like that? Then, Isolde. "Dinobot armor? I dunno. But if I was gonna use it on a Dinobot, I'd be all like, "I'M A CHARGIN' MAH LAZER BLAAHHHHHHHH!"" Chip Chase leans back in his hoverchair as he contemplates the last two inventions. Despite the theory that these exhibits are supposed to be anti-war, Chip can't help but notice how effective both of them would be in combat situations. "Thank you for your demonstration, Mr. Masterson. I have to admit I have absolutely no idea how you did that, and I have a fair bit of experience with Transformer anatomy. Care to give us any pointers?" "Wasn't TALKIN' to YOU," Isolde blurts out. She still has a ways to go before settling down into a proper, demure researcher. "Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess! Maybe you need be more specific when talking to people," Swoop says with an agitated huff. He crosses his arms and looks away. "Not you, ~Hen-Ree~!" Isolde points to Masterson, before abandoning the Sweep's exhibit to go visit with Swoop. "I saw your volcano the other day." Meanwhile, Runamuck rolls up to where the abandoned Seeker's head lies on the floor. The small trailer attached to his car mode skitters behind him. The white Decepticon automobile lightly bumps into the decapitated Seeker's noggin, trying to get his attention. "'ey buddy," Runamuck whispers, "if yer don't survive this, can I have yer stuff?" Henry Masterson's suit grins smugly. In fact, that's the only facial expression it's capable of. "Yeah, ok, luzer, here's a pointer--if you wanna learn about Transformer anatomy, go talk to my pal Xabat." Xabat holds up a hand, waving it slightly. He also gives Jayson a sidelong smirk. "Yeah," Masterson continues, "Xabat knows all about Transformer anatomy, cuz he's a h4xx0r like me, except he h4xx0rs with a hacksaw, LOOOOLLLLL!" The seeker's head stares up at Runamuck, emitting a weak, pained sigh. "...n...n...no." "Oh," Swoop says simply. His sour mood is instantly repaired. Funny how that works. He drops his arms and stares down, down, down at Isolde; a big grin on his face. "R-really!? You saw me Swoop's volcano?! It nice, right? Me worked hard on it alllll day! Had to get him Snarl help me." His eyes dart from left to right before he whispers, "Him Snarl bad helper, eff why eye." Sunder draws himself into a huff. "Certainly more force than you could apply," he says to the questioner. The 'water buffalo on heroin' is actually a Cyberbuffalo, a dangerous beast that took great skill to take down using melee tactics. Jayson Redfield suddenly feels a little ill, and looks away. "I think I should go sit down for a while," he mutters to Talazia. Talazia Keldahoff nods. 'make a note of Henry Masterson though." The decapitated seeker's head suddenly rises up to roughly Transformer-chest-height, letting out a feeble "Hey!" and vanishes into thin air as if it had been tucked behind an invisible curtain. Chip Chase leans forward, "Ok, Mr. Masterson, that was very impressive but I think the demonstration has served its point. If you could return the mech's head to its rightful spot..." the tone suggests this isn't just a suggestion, per se. Isolde Meissner carefully ducks her head down to avoid the silvery wingtip whipping around. "Ahem, yes, well. The scale /was/ impressive. Which one is Snarl, again?" Henry Masterson awwws. "OOOoookayyyy. I'll put the head back on. Uh. Somehow." He looks about. "Uh. Where'd it go?" Monstereo opens up his own forearm plating and yanks out a few small parts. He then test flexes his fingers. The pinky sortof just dangles creepily. He closes his arm and then gets to using the parts inside the block. A secondary tone only minutely different from the active one is taken up. A few yards from Scrapper's exhibit, a practically dead looking Autobot appears floating through the wall in a transparent standing cubicle, wearily scrubbing at an armpit with an over used bundle of ragged steelwool. He looks up and then quickly covers his body with his arms, stooping. "Who are you, get out of my quarters!" His voice is faint and echoey as if spoken through a running air filter vacuum. He then floats as if on a treadmill through the crowd and passes out the bulkhead in the same direction the strange grey Autobot Red Alert noticed went. Giant Bat sighs and offers, "I can reaffix the head." His smiles a ghastly grin. "Trust me. I have some... experience in that field." He transforms back to robot mode, his head now on his shulders again. The giant bat turns into the Decepticon Mindwipe. Who would have thought that a giant robot bat was really a Transformer? The head reappears in a few moments stuck inexpertly onto the shoulders of its old body, after a brief but hurried conversation which is difficult to overhear but to the exceedingly sharp-eared sounds like someone is trying to extort more rack space back in the seeker barracks out of the head in exchange for its safe return. Swoop seems a little confused. What scale? There was no scale in his diorama. It was a volcano. With toys. Hrm, humans were weird. "Oh, uhmm...him Snarl is really quiet one. All him do is sit around and frown at everything. He also have really big shoulders!" Swoop begins to flail his arms around, "With spikes on them! He turn into funny looking dinosaur. Me make fun of him a lot but all he do is glaaaare..." Red Alert is the exceedingly sharp eared. He frowns as yet another 'ghost' takes off, but, as always, his attention seems to be on both everything and nothing at once. Excise glares at the ghosts, fuming and furious as this 'curse' totally stole his (read: Fleet's) idea for a science exhibit. "Note to self: Kill Monstereo," Excise says in an annoyed monotone loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. Jayson Redfield glances over at Swoop. "Snarl's a Stegosaurus. All dinosaurs 'look funny' to some extent." Talazia Keldahoff says, "especially the Pterodactyl." Compton Xabat ducks down as a ghost inexplicably swoops through the station. "What--what madness is this!?" "The pterodactyl is a Pteranodon ingens," Isolde corrects once the other humans speak up. She seems to do okay with invidual Dinobots once they are in front of her, even if their proper names escape her most of the time. "Are either of you two presenting data at this conference?" "The Pterodactyl isn't actually a dinosaur," Jayson points out. "It's a pterosaur. Like the Pteranodon, which is what Swoop is." Yay nerdy talk! Talazia Keldahoff nods to Jayson. "right...my mistake." She says before watching the 'ghost' phase through the station. "odd......I wonder if anyone has holograms." "Uhm, hellloooooooo! Me am DINObot, not Pter..Pteran..Pteranobot!" Swoop chirrups, stumbling majestically over that super difficult word. "And not all Dinobots funny looking! Just him Snarl. Maybe if him Snarl /look happy/ every now and then, he not be so funny looking." Isolde Meissner mm-hmms to herself as the EDC folk ignore her. "Security, then." She cringes a bit at the incensed Dinobot, and stands to go get a few cinnamon roasted almonds. Chip meanwhile decides to move on so as to give all the presenters a chance to show off what they've done. Ah ha, this one is assured gold, he decides as he glances over his cue-card. "Next up we have Runamuck from the Decepticons." Chip gives the Battlecharger a wary glance, "Looks like he didn't fill out the portion of the sign-up sheet that tells about your exhibit. What do you have for us, Runamuck?" "Sorry," Jayson says to Isolde. "But yeah, you're right." He smirks. "Swoop, maybe you should teach Snarl how to 'look happy'." With the attention now on him, Runamuck flips the oversized felt fedora off his roof with a flick of his driver's side door. This is promptly replaced by an equally oversized square academic hat. Once again, his windshield wipers help nudge it into place. "Now," Runamuck begins, in a loud voice, "the last presenter talked 'bout transformer anatomy, and my project's kinda about that too." "there's lotsa, like," Runamuck says, "in-ex-pli-cable similarities between human and transformer behaviour. Despite millions o'years of different evolution. We're very same-like, even tho squishies are soft and transformers are hard...core...and...uh, stuff. Yea." Runamuck stares hard at the crowd, his headlights flicking up from his hood and switching on. "'s totally weird, right? Ain't just biology, but also social behaviour too. I mean, think 'bout it fer a sec, yea?" As Runamuck speaks, he starts to uncouple the little wheeled trailer attached to rear end, setting up his display. Swoop huffs, "Yeah..Guess you right. Me have to clear me busy sched-oo-el first." Swoop's schedule is an Etch-a-Sketch, so it shouldn't be too hard. "But that neither here no there." Compton Xabat folds his arms across his chest as he watches Runamuck's exhibit doubtfully, occasionally glancing about in case the creepy ghost returns. If Shockwave was here he would say something about the Quintessons doing that on purpose and also how it is the responsibility of machine life to redefine itself outside the boundaries of organic psychological/morphological standards. But he's not, because he's busy in another part of the conference center as a guest at a symposium on teleportation. Combat: Red Alert searches for Boomslang. Combat: Boomslang has been found! Red Alert continues to watch everything and everyone. He sniffs out a cloaked Seeker, but for once, doesn't seem very interested in that and instead keeps scanning about. Boomslang is just trying to steal change out of one of the vending machines, anyhow. "SO," Runamuck declares, "I decided ter do a case study! Focusin' on the most basic of drives, somethin' that's both biological -AND- social in nature!" The small sticker-covered trailer hitched to Runamuck's vehicle form clatters as he moves into position. The trailer uncouples and unfolds...with the trademark Cybertronian five-tone harmonic. Of course, the transformation sound is coming from Runamuck's dashboard stereo, and has a sort of tinny recorded quality to it. But that's not the point. The panels of the little trailer fall to the ground, releasing a small avalanche of contents. There's a distinct dinkDINKdinkDINKDINK across the floor of the science fair before everything subsides... ...leaving what appears to be a groggy-looking human man, resting atop a messy pile of beer cans and bottles. Blinking at the lights, the disheveled human burps, and lifts his current drink in salute. Clipped to his wrinkled clothing is a large sign marked 'SUBJECT #1 - CONTROL'. "YoooooooooooOOoo," the unshaven man says. Compton Xabat stares, mouth open. "What? A... bum in a trailer? What... what is this supposed to be?" Chip Chase watches Runamuck, confident that it's only a matter of time before Runamuck does something that makes him want to cry. He scowls at the revealed 'science project' of being a drunk dude, shaking his head. He's very disappointed with the direction that the second day of the science fair is going in. Excise on the other hand cheers. "Go Runamuck! Science them all! Science them good!" "Okay, so," Runamuck continues. The white Decepticon car warrior opens his driver's side door. With the door swinging on its hinges, he indicates the highly intoxicated human sprawled amidst the mess of booze and energon. "As yer can see," Runamuck lectures, "my research assistant is exhibitin' all da classic 'uman signs o' drunkenness - flushed face, slurred speech, lack o'balance, poor coordination, that sorta thing." Said assistant brings a bottle to his lips, takes a long deep drink, and waves happily. Sunder holds up various mechanical "sniffer" devices. He looks about at the small gathered crowd. "These devices are designed to detect various concentrations of emissions to 'smell'." He tosses them on the table unceremoniously. "And I have no need of them. For I have one of the most sophisticated tracking systems known to science." "Hey, here a sophisticated tracking system!" Swoop bellows. He bends over and slaps his butt. "ME ASS!" Red Alert snorts faintly as Sunder claims to have the most sophisticated tracking systems known to science, and continues to prowl the fair exhibits. Jayson Redfield grimaces badly. "No! Bad Swoop! No one wants to see that!" "Now," says Runamuck. He seems oblivious to the massive doubt and disbelief coming from the somewhat unamused audience. Instead he bobs the hood of his car mode at Excise, acknowledging his fellow Decepticon's encouragement with the air of an experienced science practitioner. "Observe wot 'appens when we introduce a comparable liquid factor ta a transformer." The white Pontiac Firebird honks loudly, getting the attention of a particular Seeker - the guy modified earlier by scrapper's machine, from air warrior to serving droid. The Seeker totters over, stepping past the drunken bum. The man blinks vapidly as the giant robot crunches a few scattered drink cans and bottles into debris. Runamuck pops the flap over his gas intake, and unscrews the cap. "Right," the sports car Decepticon orders, "fill 'er up!" Dutifully, the modified Seeker places one of his energon-dispensing nozzles to Runamuck's side, and starts pumping semi-solid energized goo into the Battlecharger. Isolde Meissner returns with a bag of the specially prepared almonds, and stares at the drunkards on display. She is nebulously aware of the terrible consequences she would have to face if she pulled such a stunt. But she was hardly a giant robot! The biology major pulls out a napkin, and begins doodling out plasmid insertion sites and possible candidate cohort organisms to go along with the terraforming cyanobactera. Maybe slime molds. Or amoeba. Or tardigrades. THOSE guys were cold, radiation, and vaccuum resistant. And pretty darned cute under the electron microscope. She begins doodling a series of tardigrades marching across the top of her napkin border. Nate Briar has HIDDEN-connected. Compton Xabat frowns, considering filing another complaint, since the Decepticons--apparently--kidnapped someone. The fact that Masterson just decapitated and hijacked one of them recently doesn't bother him at all. But he puts that off for now--he wanders off to find Isolde. Ah, there she is. "See?" Xabat says, as he creeps up to her. Going by experience, college students are particularly vulnerable to falling under the influence of his poisonous ideology. "See how he is exploiting that human? Poor man. We can't let him leave with the Decepticons. He'd probably wind up dead, in a ditch." Red Alert continues his usual distracted wandering around the room, but through what is probably just bizarre coincidence, he begins wandering nearer to Isolde when Xabat begins to talk to her. It's really got to just be coincidence, right? As the modified Seeker fills him up with Energon, piping concentrated energized fluid direct to his systems, Runamuck narrates: "Over-energizing a transformer also re...RE...*HIC*...reshults in scheemeelar symphtoooms." Runamuck starts to vibrate, thin wisps of blue-purple smoke pouring from his exhaust pipe and curling from beneath his hood. "Such as...as...BAAaa---" With a loud WHUMPH, Runamuck rolls over, ending up upside down on his -roof-, wheels spinning futily in mid-air. He narrowly misses flattening his human 'assistant'. The drunken man blinks slowly, looking up at where the upside-down car just /barely/ missed coming down on his skull. Compton Xabat was right, who'd have thunk it? Of course, rather than freaking out, the guy just blinks again and takes another swig from his bottle. Then he burps. "--ba-laaaance n' co-co-co-ord-in-nation," Runamuck finishes, "shhoo, in CON-CLUE-SHION...ENERGON equals BOOZE. O'course this is j'est an empirical demon-stration o'one particular parallel between hoomans and bots. There'sh probably room 'ere fer ferther anna-lytical shtudy, but da university ain't given me mah grant." Mindwipe notes, rather coldly, "Humans do not bleed, ah, 'booze' when you cut them. Transformers may show signs akin to human intoxication whenever struggling to process an overdose of energon, but directly injecting /booze/ into a human might well kill him, whereas to a Transformer, an energon injection would be equivalent to a blood transfusion for a human. Or a feeding line." Monstereo pulls out a data padd and glances up at the stars, or rather, the lack thereof. The Rainbow Climbs view is now a shadow of it's former glorious self. He rubs his chin and then tries his short range radio, quietly whispering, "Hello? Captain, are you reading?" From behind Monstereo, a phantom face appears and leans down. "Erm, yes." The Junkion optic bulb-blinks and then turns around. "Oh... howdy, pard'ner. Am I glad to see you." "What are you doing here? Nobody is supposed to be here." Monstereo asks, "Here? Where here?" "On my ship, in the damned underbelly of the universe... Wait, you're the one we gave the Box to... is it... did you?" Monstereo nods, and the Captain looks relieved. One deck down, some station technicians get spooked by a group of dead-looking Autobots playing cards in their snack refridgerator. Isolde Meissner glances up from the cartoon of an amoeba eating, and thusly SHIELDING, bacteria from toxins and radiation as Xabat sidles up to her. She VERY quickly glances down at the paper to verify that nothing particularly damning is legible, and ahems a bit, biting into an almond. "Want one?" she asks, offering the fragrant cone-shaped bag to him. "Dead in a ditch is something that would probably happen anyway once his liver gave out," she observes. "That one Decepticon seemed to really like you." Has she noticed Red Alert creeping up? As Runamuck starts getting filled up, Chip Chase relaxes. He's figured out what this 'experiment' really is. "Yes, we're all capable of getting drunk," he says, "That is an amazing finding," There's more than a bit of sarcasm in his voice. Despite this, others in the audience who are presumably less well versed in Cybertronian bodily functions actually /are/ impressed, as nobody in their right mind would think that a robot could get drunk. There's a few claps for Runamuck's hard work. "Up next," Chip Chase says with a sigh, seeing Monstereo dealing with ghosts out of the corner of his eye, "We have Mindwipe, also from the Decepticons." Team Evil is cashing in this time around, it seems. "BOOOOOOOOO!" Swoop heckles. Compton Xabat snatches a cinammon almond, and munches on it. "Hm. Thank you. Heh. Which one, the goofball? He's just trying to annoy me. But that's not a good idea, you see. Well. Anyway. As for the bum, that's not for the robots to decide." He ponders. How to convert this woman to a life of terrorism? Excise is now pushing his way back towards his exhibit. The reign of Decepticon presentations is going to continue, it looks like, cause he's pretty sure that he'll be picked next. Red Alert stumbles against one of the tables, and hisses sharply in reaction. Sometimes he's so busy noticing everything everywhere else that he misses what is immediately in front of him. "Erm, excuse me," he says, tone polite and nervous, to the scientist whose display that was, helping to replace their stand. Once done, however, he goes back to watching Isolde and Xabat. Mindwipe takes the stage with his crystal ball full of fire, wishing that he could go talk to the ghosts instead. Stupid presentation! He sets his project down on a table. It is a hollow crystal ball, full of flickering red-orange spectrum fire... hooked up to a vacuum pump. The pressure gauge indicates that the pressure inside the globe is equivalent to hard vacuum. /Nothing/ should burn inside. Yet it does. Mindwipe announces, "According to myth, fire was stolen by a rather clever fellow from the gods themselves. I present to you the eternal flame, burning even in the void, itself!" Mindwipe seems to think this is good enough. Vorath, however, transforms off Mindwipe's shoulders, leaving Mindwipe as a bat. While he may hate this topic, Vorath has a PowerPoint slide show and a laser screwdriver that he uses as a pointer and explains, "As we all know, true combustion can only occur in an oxygenation environment, so the phenomenon we have produced here cannot be considered true fire. Nor is it an ionized gas or plasma, as it appears to be purely a release of light. It is not an instance akin to stellar fusion. I am, I am afraid, more able to tell you what it is not than what it actually is." %rVorath frowns, wishing he could be talking about Pretender suits or binary bonds instead. "There is no release in the infrared spectrum." He removes the crystal ball covering the flame and places a piece of paper into the fire. The paper appears to catch on fire, but it does not blacken or char, remaining pristine. He chucks the piece of paper into a fire-proof waste bin, where the flame eventually gutters out. "As I just demonstrated, it does not physically damage anything it touches. However..." He removes a glove and places his hand in the fire and quickly yanks it out, grimacing in clear pain. His hand reddens with inflammation. "...there is a clear psychosomatic reaction, which has been demonstrated in a number of species. Thus, my proposed explanation for this phenomenon is that it is purely psychosomatic. Something about the emission device creates electromagnetic radiation that stimulates brains and neural nets, forcing them to expect to see, feel, and /smell/ fire, where there is none. This effect would be akin to how certain bands of electromagnetic radiation have been demonstrated to make people feel as if they are experiencing the divine. If this effect could be fine-tuned, it has vast applications in the entertainment and training industries." there." From the science fair floor, Runamuck - still upside down in vehicle mode - rocks back and forth. He and his human assistant stare mesmerised at the globe of mystical flame being displayed by Mindwipe and Vorath. For a long while, there's just silence. Then: Runamuck: "Doooood, pretty colours." Human: "...dooooood." "It is /not/ just a release of light!" Red Alert exclaims, aggitated. "That is not psychosomatic! I don't understand how, but it causes pain without consuming!" This'll probably alert Isolde and Xabat as to just how close he is to them. Isolde Meissner furrows her brow as she considers the words from Xabat. "You're, ahem, certainly motivated. And passionate about mankind," she chuckles out to Xabat. Was his charm working on her? Or was she politely humoring him out of fear that any obvious rejections would result in bad things™ later on for her research and family's well-being? She jerks in her seat a bit, startled. "Red Alert, are you okay?" Vorath applies a bit of burn cream to his reddened, but not burnt, hand and calmly places his glove back on, assuring Red Alert, "Psychosomatic pain certainly feels real. Ask any sufferer of Phantom Limb Syndrome." "Look," Red Alert says, jabbing his finger into the palm of his hand, "try standing behind someone who is blindfolded with that flame. Then, at times hold it against them and say nothing. Hold it against them and say you're doing so. Say you're holding it against them without doing so. They will /know/ when you've really touched them with the fire and when you haven't - psychosomatic pain depends purely on expectations." He looks down at Isolde and apologizes. "I, erm, spent a week in the place where that... that fire originated. It was... not a pleasant experience." Compton Xabat jumps a bit as Red Alert yells something. "Gah! Damned robot," he grumbles. How can he indocrinate someone into the dark side with all of these distractions? Perhaps he should put that off for now, then. He steps forward, pointing accusingly at Vorath. "That fire can't be real! I demand to test it myself!" Monstereo scratches a horn and lifts his goggles off his optics. "You're on your ship huh? Well that's a bit of a pickle." The Captain nods. "Brought her to a dead halt when report came from two of my crew members that they saw a bunch of strange Cybertronainas and other tiny aliens passing through her." Monstereo nods. "Well then. I have good news and hopefully soon to be super-glued news. Good news, I'm here to rescue you. Bad news, whoh, we're half way there living on a prayer. I'm gonna need you to move your ship... uh." He looks around and then picks up a datapad. He does some spacial calculations. "Alright, move your docking port to these co-ordinates. That should get your chocolate out of my peanut butter so if... when I get this all straightened out your engines arn't stuck in the loo." The Captain looks skeptical and weary. "Rescue? What are you on about? What are you saying?" Monstereo just says firmly as he shows the padd to the insubstantial figure, "Move your dock here... it'll be rough, but we gotta keep a conection and stay on the line while the operator patches us through. I'll worry about my mumbo jumbo." The Captain sighs but nods, walking away back the way he came, through the wall. Meanwhile, Monstereo resumes his calculations. Having trapped the entire station inbetween dimensions is not something he wants to experience the consequences of eternally. No tv. And Decepticons who think they're smart. Not a good place to live. Chip Chase looks relieved as Mindwipe's experiment does not make him want to cry. Rachel meanwhile has returned to his side, "I think we can chalk up 2 so far," she reports, "3 if this Autobot ghost thing doesn't pan out." Chip just nods, focusing on Mindwipe and Vorath. He was hoping the Nebulons would be here for this, though he expected to be hearing about the Binary Bonding process instead. Being an expert in robotics and electronics, much of this is past him, but he's nonetheless able to follow most of it. Mindwipe does a good job of breaking it down to a layman's terms. Red Alert gestures towards Compton Xabat. "Look! A volunteer for the experiment I proposed!" Vorath looks amused, "You think I haven't? Of course it hurts when blindfolded. Electromagnetic radiation can easily stimulate a brain or neural net that lacks /any/ sensors - which this 'fire' certainly does." He gestures to a plot of tests of proximity to the fire of dismebodied lasercores. To Mr. Xabat, he offers, "You may test the flame, if you wish, but I take no resposibility for emotional trauma that the pain causes." With time running out, Chip Chase says, "Questions and testing can continue for Mindwipe, but this really /is/ interesting. I think you're the front runner for the Breaking The Laws Of Physics award this year, Mindwipe! Up next, /also/ from the Decepticons-" c'mon, good guys? What the hell? "-we have Excise." Mindwipe fist-pumps! Take that, physics! Compton Xabat steps up onto the stage, hmphing at Vorath. "I grow weary of all of this mystical trickery you and your bat friend are peddling. This fire is nothing more or less than a hologram!" He sticks his hand into the flame, and then immediately yanks it back out! He doubles over, clutching his hand, and screaming in pain! "ARRRRGHHH! My hand!" Red Alert /was/ the only Autobot exhibit of the night, and his presenter's wandered off. Jayson Redfield just stares. "No one ever accused Xabat of actually being *smart*, I guess..." Excise steps forward. "Thank you, ladies, gentlemen, neuters, fleshlings, germs, androgenous beings, creatures, critters, fellow Cybertronians, mechs from Planet Junk, robots of undetermined origin, animation errors, bacteria, and 'other'. Welcome to the greatest exhibit of all!" He gestures towards his cardboard poster that doesn't seem to have any useful information on it. "My experiment, with the assistance of Fleet, was in harnessing the fickle power of luck. Harnessing it so we can use it to /crush you a-/ uh, for peaceful purposes..." "You see, last month on the fabled Friday the 13th-" none of the aliens get this reference, "-We began a campaign of harnessing all the dark powers of luck. Black cats, walking under ladders, opening umbrellas inside, breaking mirrors, flying shuttles from Cybertron to Earth-" That one is a Transformer specific superstition for bad luck. "-and all manner of bad luck gathering. We channeled all that on one very special Decepticon." He pauses dramatically before tapping himself in the chest. "*Me*. For one long and /painful/ month we subjected this special Decepticon to bad luck in an attempt to be able to project it onto others." Excise's voice grows louder and louder the more he speaks, "And today... on yet another Friday the 13th, I, EXCISE, am claiming success! I have harnessed the universal power of bad luck!" He clenches his fists, raising them dramatically above his head. "I am unto a GOD now! Behold, the power of bad luck!" With a grand sweep of his arm, Excise points at Compton Xabat, "This fleshling was attempting to 'get lucky' with /that/ fleshling," he sweeps his arm further to point at Isolde. "But my proximity caused it to result in FAILURE! Proof, ladies, gentlemen, neuters, etc etc, of the experiment! I refer you also to whatever thing Monstereo is doing involving dimensions. The result? Failure! The reason? Bad luck! Those ghost Autobots? Quite /bad luck/ to have been turned into ghosts, no? Success again, my minions!" He raises his arms again triumphantly. Vorath just grins as Mr. Xabat sets his hand on 'fire'. "I did warn you, Mr. Xabat." Then, he and Mindwipe take the exhibit back to their kitschy tent. As Xabat takes the challenge, Isolde quickly stows the almonds and her tardigrade napkin. Standing, she slips out, still feeling uncomfortable about the interest the criminal had in the metal-reducing, electrcity-producing aspects of her terraforming cyanobacteria. She tries to suppress a smile at the sound of the screams behind her. Excise hops up and down and points at Xabat as he burns himself, "Proof again!" he shouts, again benefiting from the work of his idol. Compton Xabat clutches his hand, staring at it, expecting melted flesh--but it's just reddened! "Wha... but it felt so real!..." The terrorist realizes that he should take care not to underestimate those two in the future. In the meantime, he hustles off to get some ice on it. Talazia Keldahoff shakes her head, but then nudges Jayson. "i'm gonna head to be jayse. You keep outta toruble." Sunder didn't really expect the Sweeps' exhibit to win. After all there were fancier things than how to disembowel a terrabore or an Autobot. But, this was the subject matter the Sweeps were most familiar with. He huffs slightly. Jayson Redfield looks innocent at Tal. "Trouble? Me?" Talazia Keldahoff smirks at Jayson. "yes...you. you're more trouble than me with red hair." Red Alert staaaaaaaaares at Excise as he starts, once more, to walk about the hall. "That's absurd. I was near you, as well, and I'm not unlucky at al-" he stumbles into another table, winces, and apologizes profusely to the scientist whose poster he just knocked over. "You insult me," Jayson replies teasingly. "Well, g'night, in any case." Talazia Keldahoff pokes jayson on the nose. "nini." "Ah ha!" Excise points at Red Alert, jumping up and down, "Another victory for the glory of the Decepticon cause! So remember, /anything bad that happens to you... ever, is the result of *me*/!" "Me knew it all along!" Swoop yells, fists in the air. The recently-decapitated gumbyseeker, who is wrapping more duct tape around his neck, agrees, "I certainly was very unlucky today!" Chip Chase chalks up another stupid event and checks his cue-card. Only one more to go! "And lastly, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce our final presenter of this year's Space Chase Science Fair... a mech who by all looks of it started perhaps a little bit earlier in the day, Monstereo from the Junkions. Monstereo, could you fill us in on what's going on over there?" "Duuuude," Runamuck says from the observatory floor, where he is -still- lying on his back in vehicle mode. He appears completely oblivious to the attention now being directed at Monstereo. Instead, he flashes his headlights at Excise. "I remember -that-...wasn't da bad luck cannon, liiiike...flyin' boss lady's invention? Did yer license it, mate?" "Silence!" Excise shrieks at Runamuck. "Fleet may have /helped/ with the /concept/, and she may have /ordered/ this mission to proceed," Excise puts up air quotes in appropriate spots. "But I can assure you that *I* was the one who SUFFERED for this project to be a success." Excise's left optic suddenly twitches, "Suffered.... a lot..." Compton Xabat yells, from somewhere down in the food court, "ARRRGH! Idiot! This water is hot, not cold!" Looking remarkably composed for a car that's upside down and resting on the flat surface of its roof, Runamuck...wobbles thoughtfully. His wheels spin a little as he considers Excise's words. In a slow deliberate fashion, he replies, "But, like...duuude...if yer suf--suff--suffer fer it, it'd be liiike...ART, right, I mean. But zis ish sh'posed t'be a schience fair." His headlamps flicker. "Thaaat ain't rhight." Excise wordlessly walks away from his booth, shoving his way through the crowd towards the drunk-off-his-wheels Battlecharger. Upon reaching Runamuck, Excise gives the car a swift kick in the side. ~Clang~! That is his reply to stupid comments. Monstereo slow motion arises to his feet and steps out from behind his boring looking metallic block. Geeze, he could have at least painted it, huh? But no. Monstereo smiles at Chip Chase. "Gladly, Monsieur. Ladies and gentlemen, you've all been victim of a bump in the road to understanding. Little did you know, you've been trapped between here and there... dimensionally speaking. Hence, the stars being missing." The Junkion then points at Excise. "You, too, know nothing of my work. Ghosts? Why, nobody is dead. And Merv Griffin willing, today, I can save /everybody/. This is SCIENCE!!! And science isn't about getting things right on the first try. It's about trial and error, and the comedies there-unto. It's about learning, from success and failure. It's about understanding... yeah... and betterment... yeah. It's about questions and answers, and more questions. And it's about ... ah screw this, the show must go on. Monstereo saves the Vanderdecken crew, lost for 10,000 years in the 'underbelly' of the galaxy with no access to ipods and rollerderbies. Tonight... I bring them home, and get us out of this interdimensional gutter. Igor! Throw the switch!" He raises his remote device and enters a new sequence. The double-humming tone of the block starts playing the tune of ... Funky Town? The aurora borealis like lights return to the object and outside, a massive autobot vessel starts fading into view while the stars ALL disappear. The vessel groans along with the station as the dock merges on a submolecular level with the ship. Monstereo frantically enters more commands into his remote, "Alakazam, presto chango..." The tune of the tones changes to smething like Ode To Joy.... A wave of light expands from the block, washing over the entire station, it's occupants, and the ship outside... and the stars... and the RainbowClimbs itself, fade into spectacular view once more. Monstereo enters new commands through the remote and the soundeffect of a record needle skipping off the disk is heard, the special effects all end. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you I didn't kill us all." He looks genuinely relieved. Kicked by Excise, Runamuck wobble-wobble-wobble-wobbles, before finally falling onto his driver's side. This is not a particularly stable position either. His wheels, still in empty air, rotate a little. A few wisps of energon-tinged smoke snake their way out from his undercarriage, swirling around the exposed bits of his transmission and drivetrain. "Ah dunno," Runamuck muses, dubiously, "'s like, I feel kinda a -widdle- bit ded..." Compton Xabat eventually wanders back in, holding an ice-cold slushie in his burned hand. He notices an unfamiliar ship outside the window, and wonders aloud: "Who is that? A bit late for a new arrival, I'd think." Sunder shakes his head, facepalming at Runamuck. "Perhaps you should transform," he murmurs, "Don't you find that form awkward to get around in at a place like this?" He eyes the Junkion with narrowed optics. "Indeed, or I would have had to hunt you in the Void," he growls. Sam slips out of whatever dark corner he's been hiding in, walking over towards Jayson. Chip Chase knows a few things about dimensions. The Militants came from another dimension (or was it another reality? Is there a difference?) and that didn't turn out well for his friends. "Though science is also supposed to not get bystanders caught up in the experiment," he murmurs, mostly to himself. Rachel overhears but doesn't comment, instead fixated on watching as the switch gets raised and the bright lights shimmer. The Rainbow Climbs returns above them in the observatory, and the audience cheer the Junkion's success. Mostly because it means they're home and can get out of here alive! Jayson Redfield sits on a bench and yawns. "Hey, Sam." Over the station com, the broadcast from the Vanderdecken can be heard, cheers of tired, damaged vocals all cheering in a meassure of releif far beyond perhaps almost everybody here has ever experienced before. 'By Primus, stars! Stars!' 'Are we? Can it be?' 'All hands, this is the Captain. Prepare to disembark, we've come home.' 'yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!' 'anybody over there got any energon?' 'i need my filters overhauled.' 'i hope I never see your stupid autobot faces again.' 'feelings mutual, laser-drain.' The tired crew of the Vanderdecken, both Autobot, and the stranded Decepticons who didn't get away when the whole curse took them away, shamble like zombies off the ship one by one, the captain seeing them off one by one until he is the last. He gives his wreck of a ship a final fond pat, and then vows to never set foot on her again. Thus, the Chase station acquires a sizable source of materials from the long lost derelict. Monstereo rubs at his audials and sighs. " Raising his voice just enough to be heard over the sound of the gleeful science-fair goers, and the now-disembarking liberated ghost-ship-transformers... ...Runamuck replies to Sunder. He blinks his headlamps at the sweep. He speaks in the slow, overly precise, manner of someone trying very hard to produce coherent speech, the sideways-parked Battlecharger with his wheels hanging in the air asks: "What's 'transform'?" Monstereo rubs at his audials and sighs. "Berry-Picker-DXM... successful. Doc 'stereo... happy. Now Merv willing, Goole won't throw a fit over this." He shuts down his machine and figures on hiding it among miles of collected junk, hoping he'll never have to use it again. Sam dips his head a little to Jayson, then nods over toward the collected mechanized folk. "What has happened?" Sunder facepalms again. "OH dear Unicron, don't tell me you're so overenergized that you forgot." Sam asks Jayson. Compton Xabat watches the new guys boarding the station, sipping at his slushie with a look of puzzlement. "What are they so happy about?" he mutters. Jayson Redfield shrugs a bit. "Xabat burned himself. It was awesome." Andi Lassiter is off somewhere talking quantum physics with someone or other, getting caught up on what's happened in the scientific field since she baseically dropped out years ago. She's not aware of the new arrivals. Sam blinks and just stares at Jayson. Nate Briar happens to stumble in and is hoping that he is not going to find a scene like he has seen in the past. Today, he hopes, that Redfield is wearing pants and that Sam is not taking pictures of him. Swoop crosses his arms and scowls. "Hrmm..Today's sciencey thing not as good as other days sciencey thing. Too many Decep-tee-cons. Too many...crazies." "Speak for yourself," the Sweep growls at Swoop. Monstereo idly wonders if his faith-cred has gone up or down as a result of this as he sees zero questions being asked. Chip himself seems pleased that they're back in the right universe, "Well done, Monstereo," he says. Addressing the crowd as a whole, the inventor says, "Everyone, that was our final presenter for this year. I'm glad we had such a great turn-out, and I think this bodes well for the possibility of further science fairs down the line. I don't know about you, but I've appreciated being able to book a week off work in order to come out here." This gets a few chuckles from the audience, though it doesn't work on all cultures. "Please feel free to continue checking out the exhibits of course, and again, thank you all for attending." "'ey, 'ey, 'ey noOoow," Runamuck slurs, "Deshepticons and chrazy ish goot." With this dire pronouncement, Runamuck wobbles accusingly in Swoop's general direction. "And crazy Deshepticons ish doubleplus goot!" Notably, though, Runamuck pointedly does NOT reply to Sunder's question about whether he's so over-energized he's forgotten how to transform. No, nope, not gonna dignify such an, ah, obvious question with a response. Sam hms, then walks away from Jayson. Swoop just /stares/ at Sunder. Then he politely flips him off. Oh Swoop! Chip Chase gives the microphone back to his assistant, Rachel. The pair are chatting to each other as the chatter in the rest of the observation deck begins to grow to pre-presentation levels again, making it harder to carry on private conversations. Andi Lassiter spots Chip in the crowd and steps closer, stopping a polite distance away. She does pause to crane her neck a bit and see where Sam and Jayson have gone to. Jayson Redfield seems to be blending into the crowd. He's tired and wants to go home. (Much like how the player is about to fall asleep!) Sam has gotten a bit away from Jayson, having move up closer to the front to look at Scrapper's exhibit. Which he frowns over briefly. *moved Whatever they're talking about, the conversation seems to be over. Rachel nods to something Chip says and then turns away, heading elsewhere. Chip turns his chair around and is about to move off when he spots Andi. "Hello there," he says, obviously not recognizing her. Sunder idly sips on an energon cube as he begins to pack away his exhibit and tucks it away in subspace. Monstereo makes like a tree and gets out of here. He has Vanderdecken patients to attend to. Runamuck does not leave. Runamuck is probably completely incapable of movement right now, or indeed rational thought of any kind. He remains lying on his side on the observatory floor, wheels in the air. His engine does appear to still be running, though. It's making rather strange noises. "ZzzZzz...*SNORT*...ZZzzzzzzzzzz...*SNNNORRRT*..." Sunder departs, having no further business to attend to here. James Bailey wanders around more freely as the transformers start departing. He glances over the remaining exhibits, making sure he doesn't miss anything interesting. Andi Lassiter smiles and nods to Chip politely. "Hello. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for hosting this event. It's been fascinating, and the venue couldn't be more unique." Chip beams, "Well thank you, that's very kind of you to say. I love coming out here." He gestures around, as the observation deck provides some stunning views of the Rainbow Climbs. Chip holds his hand out, "I'm Chip," he says even though Andi no doubt already knows. It's just an excuse to get her to introduce herself. Sam climbs up on the table at Scrapper's exhibit (since it's Cybertronian, it's much larger than he is) so he can get a decent look at the holographic projections. From there, he looks over the device, and pokes at it. Andi Lassiter is glad that he thought of a way to start the introductions, she failed to. Taking his hand and shaking briefly and not too firmly, she says, "Andrea Lassiter. The Rainbow Climbs really are beautiful. I'm just glad I don't have a fear of heights..." A thought occurs to her at that and she looks around the room again, trying to get a visual on Jayson. This place just might be hellish for him. Sam probably shouldn't be climbing up to the control panel for this thing, but is doing it anyway. Swoop just stands back and watches Sam do his thang while he munches noisilly on discarded food stuffs. "Yeah I remember the first time I came out here," Chip says, "It was on an Autobot shuttle and we were just passing through, so we didn't get much of a chance for sightseeing. I never thought I'd get a chance to see it /this/ much, though." Chip looks around as Andi tries to spot Jayson. "Looking for someone?" he asks. Andi Lassiter says, "Oh, sorry. Yes. Private Jayson Redfield. I remember hearing him mention that doesn't do so well with heights." Chip ohs, "Well, if he needs to he can head below decks where that isn't much of a problem." He isn't sure whether Andi is planning to head off to find Jayson or not, so he waits a few moments before asking, "Did you come in with one of the science teams, or just visiting the fair to see the exhibits?" Andi Lassiter turns her full attention back to Chip, having not spotted Jase. "True. And I honestly hope he doesn't happen across Compton Xabat, either. Those two have...unpleasant history. Oh, I'm just visiting the fair this year. I'd hoped to get an exhibit ready, but I ran out of time with the whole Nebulos thing." Sam stands on the edge of the control panel for this device, probably ten feet off the ground or so, using his hands to brace himself as not to fall, while he looks over the controls. He doesn't turn it on, or try. Chip nods, "Yeah, we were worried the fighting on Nebulos was going to affect things. We were this close to having to postpone or cancel it." Chip holds his thumb and index finger about an inch apart. "What was your exhibit going to be? Wait, no, don't tell me. Just tell me if you'll be presenting it next year." Andi Lassiter chuckles at that. "All right. I won't tell you." Sam looks down. "Hrm." He starts shuffling back toward the edge of the panel, to where he can get back to the table. Chip smiles, "I'll take that as a promise to see it next year. It was a pleasure meeting you, Andi." Andi Lassiter nods and smiles back. "Likewise." She accepts the man excusing herself and takes the opportunity to go find Jase and make sure he's okay. Sam reaches a foot out to put on the table, then pushes off so he can land somewhat steadily on it. Then he just lowers himself from the edge of the table and jumps to land with a fairly heavy thud on the floor.